Welcome to our Blog

Hi, girls.

I just thought this would be a great way to share stuff with eachother. Courtney, you'll have to ask for a digital camera for Valentines day or something.

How is work coming for both of you?

Anyway, I thought I would share my latest project with you: My Yard

I hope these pics don't make it hard for you 'puter to open the page, but I want to show you what I have to work with.

The first one is the view from the driveway.

These 2 are from the other side of the yard.










x




I share this side of the yard with my neighbor, but we go visit them so often that I've purchased stepping stones to put from the front stoop to where the X is in photo 2. I just need to ask her if that's ok with her, I'm sure it will be.

This one is the view of the side of the house. There's not too much room between us & the neighbors.

You may also notice at this point that there are flowers in our grass - there always has been. :) The joys of living in California.

Now, if you'll notice, the gutter drainage pipe comes directly down and ends without the water being diverted. The gutters are so cluttered, it doesn' t make much of a difference yet.

The area to the left here is how I found it when we moved in. The stones are uneven, the vining plant is haphazard (I've already trimmed what was growing over our stoop and transplanted it to the area closest to where I was standing when I shot the pic at left.) though I've heard it has beautiful blooms.

We also inherited the hose.

Anyway, this whole "garden" becomes a pond when it rains because originally, someone put plastic and stones in there. Then someone else came along with some dirt and some plant seeds. I've been pulling stones out of the couple of feet closest to our front door. If you look carefully in the first photo, you can see them. But it occurs to me I'm not going to be able to pull much more out without disturbing the vines, so today I bought some wide planters for them. I will transplant them tomorrow. I want to do it before they start flowering because it will be less traumatic on them. I also have an issue with the slugs & stuff chewing on the vines. I'm going to look into some garlic spray to fix that. I think I discussed that with you, Cindy.

It's a bit of a mess right now, as you can see.

A couple of obstacles I will have to work around are these:

Right now I can't even get the hose disconnected for some reason. I might have to ask maintenance for help or wait until Rob gets home.

Here's some of what I hope to do with it:

A, B, C are spots of interest - I'm thinking bushes, taller plants or possibly some kind of yard statue for B - maybe a well? No Flamingos. :)

D is under the tree (the dot) - and might be a cute place to put some pavers and a small patio set or otherwise hang a swing from the tree - especially a baby swing.

E is a representation (in grey) of where the garden area is now, and where I want to expand it to (faint line) - Also, there are hooks left over from X-mas lights hanging above, so windchimes and such are options too.

F is a patch of some kind of flowers. Lilies? They're yellow & a bit out of control right now.

G is the stepping stones - the blue around them could be either moss or some kind of gravel or mulch - something to further define the path.

H is the tree - even though you can't see it.

I is the adjustment to the end of the drainage pipe - I want it to flow away from the garden.

J is the area bordered by the purple line around the walkway and the front edge of the yard. I'm thinking Phlox or lavender or something low-maintenance, possibly something I could cut & put in vases.

My neighbor told me roses won't do well here because of the ocean air.

Well, it's late & my little nursling and I need to catch some shuteye if we're going to do our gardening tomorrow.

Love you's.

Vanessa & Donovan